Heaven Cave waken up!

VietNamNet Bridge - Discovered in 2005, the Heaven Cave is the longest dry cave in Asia. Located in the ecological restoration area of the Phong Nha-Ke Bang national park, Quang Binh province, the cave has been opened for tourists as of September 3.

The cave, 31km long, 191 metres above the sea level, has the most beautiful and spectacular stalactites in the park. Despite the robust geological tectonic process, the whole structure of the cave has still been persevered intact.

A 4.7 kilometres long forest road was built so that tourists can reach the destination on foot, by cross country bicycle or by host cart.

Some pictures of the cave:

Source: Dan Tri/VNE

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Vietnam’s four hotels and resorts listed as most ideal destinations

Four of hotels and resorts in Vietnam have been chosen as the most ideal destinations in 2010 in the sixth annual poll of the online travel magazine Smart Travel Asia.

Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi

Accordingly, the Nam Hai, Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi, Sofitel Palace Da Lat and Princess d’Annam are among the 25 leading hotels and resorts.

The Nam Hai and Metropole Hanoi have been on the list earlier while it is the first time for the two remainings.

The poll attracted participation of over one million online readers this year. The voters are frequent travelers with annual average income of US$165,000, according to the website

www.SmartTravelAsia.com.

About 60 percent of them are from Asian, 20 percent from Europe and 20 percent from North America.

Source: Saigon giai phong

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Shopping fun at Dalat Market

VietNamNet Bridge – “Ham lam, ba lam, bon lam…” (meaning VND25,000; VND35;000; VND 45,000). It is the voice of the sellers that you hear when you visit Dalat market in the evening. We spent some late evenings in the market listening to all the spruikers competing for the customers’ attention.

This girl looks at warm hats for sale at Dalat Market. (Photo: SGT)

In the evening, after 6p.m. the market that locals call Hades market was bustling with activities from selling woolen products such as coats, hats and scarves, to the street food vendors. In the cold weather and light drizzling rain that had people dressed in coats, the tourists could not resist the smell of the grills or the cups of hot milk. Hades market is thronging every day in the streets around the main market in Dalat.

Smack in the center of town, Da Lat market was built from 1958 to 1960. It was designed by architect Nguyen Duy Duc. The market has a prime position in Hoa Binh district beside Xuan Huong Lake. It’s a good place for tourists to bargain, and there are some great products that are cheaper than HCMC. After going around the market and filling your bags with bargains you should try one of the special milk drinks made with soya beans, green beans, or peanuts before returning to your hotel. Other great smelling local grill specialties are sweet potato, corn, chicken’ legs or chicken’s wings. Woolen and brocade products also make great gifts or souvenirs.

In the morning, you can buy beautiful flowers, vegetables, fruit, artichokes, fruit jam, processed apricots, wines, syrups and a huge array of sweets made from local fruit.

VietNamNet/SGT

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Getting Around Ho Chi Minh City

To visit the main tourist attractions you will need at least two full days. The main Ho Chi Minh City Sights include the Hotel de Ville, the Reunification Palace, the Museum of Ho Chi Minh City, the War Remnants Museum, Notre Dame Cathedral and the Jade Emperor Pagoda. If you're quite adventurous it's also worthwhile taking a taxi to the Chinese district of Cholon where you can visit a number of busy pagodas and and street markets. Not many tourists head out this way so you may feel a little out of place but it's worth doing just to observe life on the streets and provided you use your common sense there's no reason to worry about heading off the beaten track.

Most of these main sights are within easy walking distance but if you want Ho Chi Minh City transport taxis are a great option as they're metred and cheap. An alternative is to take a cyclo which is quite an experience in the crazy traffic and well worth doing before the local government bans them all.
Street Seller Outside Majestic Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City Jade Emperor Pagoda Ho Chi Minh City

As you walk the streets you might be surprised at the amount of wealth around as top name international hotels and designer shops selling Rolex and Lacoste, etc. rub shoulders with street sellers offering little more than cigarettes and chewing gum.

When shopping in HCMC you can pick up some bargains if you're interested in good quality branded products. In Ben Thanh Market you'll find good quality Ralph Lauren polo shirts and Billabong type t-shirts very cheaply as well as excellent North Face rucksacks for a fraction of the price paid in the west. Many of the factories making these products are on the outskirts of HCMC. Nowhere else in Vietnam sells such quality branded goods as here, in fact I bought a bag in Hanoi which a week later I noticed was branded as "The North" (not "The North Face"). Ben Thanh is one of a number of markets in HCMC which is well worth a visit.

(Source: www.vietnam-travel-guide.net)

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Foreign tourist arrivals on the rise

VietNamNet Bridge – Visitors to Viet Nam in August increased by 4.4 per cent over July, to a total of 427,900 for the month, the General Statistics Office said.

Tourists enjoy ethnic hand-made products at Bac Ha Culture Market in the nothern mountainous province of Lao Cai. Viet Nam has launched a range of tourist programmes since the beginning of this year, with foreign visitor numbers in August increasing by 4.4 per cent over July. (Photo: VNS)

Of those, 80,500 visitors arrived by road; 343,000 by plane and 4,500 by sea, the office said.

The number was up 37.7 per cent against August last year, bringing the total for the first eight months of this year to 3.35 million visitors.

The highest increase was from Cambodia, up 104.4 per cent, followed by mainland China (98.5 per cent), Thailand (36.1 per cent), South Korea (29 per cent,) Australia (28.3 per cent), Malaysia (21.6 per cent), Japan (21.3 per cent), Taiwan (21 per cent), France (13 per cent) and the US (0.7 per cent).

The industry expects to be busy with its "Impressive Viet Nam" sale this month and next.

Meanwhile, people have been frantically searching for outbound tours since Friday was declared a holiday for State employees, bridging the gap between Independence Day, on Thursday, and the weekend.

Hong Mai of Ha Noi said she had made plans to take her family to the countryside until the extra day off was announced, making a trip out of the country a viable option.

However, the decision came to late, she said. Mai could not find a suitable tour because most were full.

Tour companies said they had either closed off many tours or there were only a few isolated seats left.

Ha Noi Redtour deputy director Nguyen Cong Hoan said he had been swamped with customers the day after the announcement was made last week.

On the first morning, 15 people booked Singapore tours, 10 chose Hong Kong tours and 17 selected Malaysia, he said.

Vietsky Travel spokeswoman Thu Hien said all outbound tours were full and they had turned away many disappointed customers.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

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